Hannah Britton pushes through her 20th lap at an indoor pool in Melbourne's east.
But rather than receive loud orders from her coach, the directions are in hushed tones and hand signals.
Britton has been deaf since birth, and she communicates using sign language.
Poolside now, she explains in Auslan, or Australian Sign Language, that she is in her element when underwater.
"Swimming means everything to me. I've always been a water baby. I'm always the first person in the pool and the last person out."
Last year, she set an Australian deaf record in the 50-metre breaststroke, and, next month, she is off to the Deaflympics.
The tournament attracts over 3,000 athletes from more than 40 countries and predates the Paralympics by 36 years.
It is an important event for elite deaf athletes, who see themselves as members of a linguistic and cultural minority, not disabled.
Hannah Britton says in sign language she is not just competing for herself.
"I consider myself a role model for younger deaf people. My swimming can encourage them to strive towards anything they dream of. I want them to feel confident in the opportunities for young deaf swimmers, including competing at the Deaflympics and maybe even the Olympics."
But it is a struggle for deaf athletes like her to keep their head above water* when it comes to opportunity.
They are not eligible for the Paralympics, because there are no categories for deaf athletes without a disability.
Federal funding pales in comparison to Olympic and Paralympic funding, meaning many Deaflympians must rely on donations to realise their dreams -- or give them up.
Britton knows the feeling.
"Last year, I swam in the finals at the National Championships, but I didn't have the opportunity to compete at a higher level, due to a lack of funding. My Paralympic and Olympic peers have access to training camps, superior facilities and overseas travel for competition, whereas I don't. Where is the equality in that?"
Deaflympic basketballer Jordan Woolmer explains it is a paucity of funding not exclusive to swimming.
"A lot of people in the deaf community feel as though there's not a lot of help from the hearing world, and I think being able to show the deaf community that there are those role models and you can thrive in the outside world, I think that would help."
Woolmer plays with the Australian men's deaf basketball team, the Goannas.
He says his ambitions are worth just as much as any other elite athletes'.
But sports dreams are often built on funding, and Deaf Sports Australia, the body representing deaf athletes, receives just $85,000 annually from the Australian Sports Commission.
It is enough to pay one full-time staff member and take care of basic office expenses.
In the past, the commission has also provided one-off grants to send teams to the Deaflympics, but that funding stream was cut off ahead of the Deaflympics in Turkey.
"We're only taking away a team of around about 40, so, when you're looking at that sort of money -- compared to what they've got, compared to what we need -- that's almost like small change. And that's, I think, the part that's the most frustrating about it is that we know that the amount of money that we need to go away is not as significant as other sports."
Hannah Britton says, in a way, she feels like she is facing discrimination.
"It's as though the government is denying opportunities to elite deaf athletes. It seems there is one rule for Paralympians and Olympians and another for Deaflympians, and I don't understand why. At the end of the day, we are all Australians. It's not fair."
Deaf Sports Australia's Irena Farinacci says the lack of funding makes it difficult to encourage young deaf and hard-of-hearing participants to strive for their best in sport.
She says it is particularly true when some are already experiencing the effects of depression and isolation.
"Some deaf and hard-of-hearing people who face constant barriers often give up easily, think that everyone's against them, because they just simply want to fit in like everybody else."
The Australian Sports Commission says previous Deaflympics grants were based on affordability and came under a different investment model.
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